Gaskin Makes Irish Eyes Smile In Dublin

Eighth seed Arthur Gaskin provided unexpected home interest in the semi-finals of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open after outlasting England's Mark Fuller in a 66-minute quarter-final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin.

It was the 29-year-old Irish champion's second marathon encounter against a qualifier. Gaskin first battled for 85 minutes to overcome Scot Douglas Kempsell before then tackling Fuller, a 28-year-old from Nottingham who was the lucky recipient of a quarter-final berth after the injury withdrawal of top-seeded compatriot Tom Richards.

"Though the score was fairly even in the first, Arthur finished it off at 11-9," explained event spokesman Arthur Curran. "He then lost concentration in the second as he allowed Mark to take a 6-1 lead, pulled back to 5-6, Mark got to game ball at 10-7 before taking the game 11-8.

"Arthur picked up his pace in the third and soared through to win it 11-2. After Arthur had taken a 6-1 lead in the fourth he again allowed Mark to pull back to 5-6 before getting to match ball at 10-7 - and again Mark pulled back to level at 10-10, but Arthur managed to finish off at 12-10 for a good win for the Irish."

World No.88 Gaskin - in his first Irish Open semi-final in nine attempts since 2005 - now faces Scottish number one Alan Clyne. The No.4 seed faced tough resistance from fellow countryman Greg Lobban before beating the seventh seed 11-2, 4-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 in 86 minutes in a clash described by Curran as the 'match of the day'.

"It's tough playing against someone from your own country, particularly if you train together, share a room on tour together," said Clyne, ranked 37 in the world. "We both know each other's games very well as well, so it was bound to be a long hard match.

"Last time we played was at the Scottish National finals, which I also won in five. I was down 1/2 but I knew I made him work hard in the previous games and I was hoping to reap the benefits in the next games, which I did to some extent, but I was still a little nervous.

"Ireland has treated me well over the last years: I came second in this tournament after beating Borja (Golan) in the semis, and I won in Galway last weekend. Plus it's a short flight, similar culture, so not too different from home.

"As for Arthur: I played him before, last time here at this tournament and it went to five. Unfortunately for me, he always tends to play really well in front of a home crowd!"

The other semi will be the match predicted by the draw - between No.3 seed Ryan Cuskelly and second seed Adrian Waller. Australian Cuskelly fought back from a game down to beat Dutchman Sebastiaan Weenink 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10, whilst Englishman Waller took just under an hour to see off sixth-seeded Indian Harinder Pal Sandhu 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4.

Semi-final line-up:
[8] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) v [4] Alan Clyne (SCO)
[2] Adrian Waller (ENG) v [3] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)